until it disappears
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: Muggle and Magical Anatomy, whilst similar, have never been identical. Because of the presence of magic, some processes cause unexpected and radical reactions deep in the brain of a magical individual. Dean Thomas knows that first hand.


**AN: **For QLFC Season 7, Round 8. KEEPER: The High Priestess — Reversed: Lack of Centre, Lost Inner Voice, Repressed Feelings

* * *

**until it disappears**

**AlwaysPadfoot**

* * *

In the womb, Dean Thomas absorbed a twin.

At an early ultrasound, his mother was told she had two fetuses growing inside her. At the second one, there was only one heartbeat, the second fetus disappearing as though it were never there. It was explained—not rare in possibility. Vanishing Twin syndrome occurred in up to 30% of multifetal pregnancies. Dean's mother, though sad at the time, moved past it and loved the son she had.

Dean was not so lucky.

* * *

Tapping his pencil against the desk, Dean was not at all focused on the star chats he was supposed to be drawing for his Astronomy Homework.

He was frustrated. Furious that his marks were dropping in one of his favourite classes. Astronomy had always been fascinating for some reason. It was a class he could use his art in and reminded him a lot about his childhood, how he'd wanted to be an astronaut. Now the class made his mood drop rapidly as though he'd taken a sorrowful serum.

"Do you mind?"

Dean rolled his eyes skyward and heaved a sigh, his motion of tapping the pencil against the wooden tabletop freezing.

He bit his tongue not responding to his twin.

Aaron was another source of his temperamental mood. Actually, no, Aaron was the main source. Only in the magical world could a twin, that Dean had absorbed in the womb, be a lifelong hallucination.

At first, Aaron was an imaginary friend who never went away. Then he was a concern, according to his mother and a few doctors. Dean quickly learnt to stop acknowledging Aaron in front of normal people and his twin became his best friend. He was supported; he was someone to help him as he learnt of the magical world.

Now?

Now, Aaron was everything that was wrong with Dean.

He kept his mouth tightly shut, deciding it best to not acknowledge Aaron right now. He wasn't sure the aisles of the Library surrounding him were empty after all. Dean forced his eyes to focus on the chart in front of him and the corresponding notes to his right.

He made it all of three minutes before Aaron chirped up. "It's gone curfew, nerd."

Dean didn't change the position he was in, but his eyes fell to his watch.

Annoyingly, Aaron was correct. If he was caught here then he'd be in detention for the next week at least. This Astronomy work was due tomorrow and his charts were a mess—he couldn't hand this in without hating himself. Dean couldn't stay up any longer either. Otherwise, he'd either oversleep in the morning or fall asleep in the first class of the day. That first class was Potions; he didn't like his odds of not being ridiculed relentlessly by Snape and the Slytherins if he fell asleep at his cauldron.

Reluctantly, Dean packed all his work away and heaved his bag over his shoulder.

"This is an absolute record," Aaron said sardonically as he followed Dean towards the main door to the library. "You haven't spoken to me in 51 hours and 37 minutes."

Continuing to ignore his twin, Dean walked fast in the hope he could make it to the Gryffindor Common room without being caught up after curfew. If not, he'd be lucky to have Filch catch him, or worse, it would be one of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad. It took all of Dean's strength to ignore his brother repeating his name over and over, purposefully trying to annoy him.

"I know what you're doing." Aaron continued finally after saying Dean's name a million times. "I know you're trying to pretend you're normal, but you're not, Dean."

At this point, he was grinding his teeth in annoyance. Dean was holding back; technically Aaron hadn't done anything but simply exist. That being said, Aaron had never been one to be ignored. He was loud; he'd always been loud. Dean was sure if Aaron had survived the womb then he would have been popular, he would have been the one that people remembered for his loud mouth.

"Why are you ignoring me? You know that's not possible, Dean?" Aaron had picked up his pace to fall into step beside him. "We're brothers. You can't throw a strop, not explain, and expect me to just accept that."

Dean was trying desperately to maintain his so-called strop.

Aaron waved his hand in front of his face to get Dean's attention. And boy, did Aaron get it. Dean swivelled on the spot and went to push Aaron backwards. Of course, he didn't succeed because Aaron just disappeared and reappeared behind him.

"That wasn't cool, Dean."

"You know what," Dean began infuriatingly. "Just—just leave me alone."

"I can't."

"You can. So do me a favour, Aaron. Just disappear off to wherever—I don't care. Just leave me alone! Leave. Me. Alone." Dean heard his voice echo off the corridor walls and watched Aaron open his mouth and close it again. "What? Nothing clever to respond with? Just shove off."

Neither of them spoke.

Dean's shoulders were heaving in his fury whilst Aaron just looked slightly stunned. In the dim glow of the empty corridor, Dean was sure he'd probably been heard yelling. Finally, Aaron stiffened up.

"Okay."

Without another word, he disappeared and left Dean standing alone with just the sound of his breathing loud in his ears.

To his surprise, the quiet didn't help him find his focus. If anything the sudden silence made him feel more uncomfortable. Eventually, Dean threw up his hands in frustration and walked away fast—just in case someone had heard him yelling.

Aaron would come back; he always did.

* * *

Except he didn't.

OWLs crept closer and closer and Dean hadn't seen his twin for over a month.

For a while, Dean managed. He revelled in the blissful feeling of being normal. He convinced himself that he was fine, and yet, his focus still drifted in his classes. Eventually, he realised he didn't seem to be feeling any better than when Aaron was around.

He felt lost.

He'd kept Aaron from everyone so nobody understood his random mood swings. Besides, how was he supposed to explain this? How was he supposed to explain everything?

He remained silent. He pushed his feelings down until he felt like screaming out loud.

In the womb, Dean Thomas absorbed a twin.

In Hogwarts, he might have lost that twin forever.


End file.
